Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 245, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 October 1918 — BASEBALL IS QUITE POPULAR IN FRANCE [ARTICLE]

BASEBALL IS QUITE POPULAR IN FRANCE

Soldiers lum Jo Game Just as Soon as There Is a Lull. Play la Started While Enemy Sheila Are Shrieking Overhead—War la Entirely Forgotten Among 7 American Soya, (By B. A BATCHELOR.) Saturday morning the Germans had held the position. Sunday afternoon American artillerymen were playing ball there. Thus the Yankee national game follows the flag. It might seem strange that soldiers after days and nights of battle, hours of fatigue and danger, should turn to baseball the very first moment there came a lull, but this has been the rule rather than the exception all summer in France. Sometimes the play starts while an occasional enemy shell is still shrieking overhead, though the officers do not encourage that sort of reckless exposure to danger. The explanation for the soldier’s love of play at the extreme front is that his nervous system has been go upset that he needs action. He cannot go from the excitement of battle to the calm of complete repose all at once. He must let himself down gradually, just as men who have been working in com-, pressed air must go through the air lock before it is safe for them to breathe the atmosphere at‘ Its normal pressure. Baseball serves the purpose admirably. It gives them something to do with their bodies while nature is adjusting itself, and something to think about that will enable them to forget the horrors they have just passed through. It Is both a physical and mental tonic.

In the particular case mentioned above a group of artillerymen were firing two big “165” rifles placed beside a road. The two pieces, served with the regularity of clockwork by a part of the battery, were harassing the retreating Huns. The men not actually engaged in shooting sat and lay around with nothing to do but think. They were too tired and excited after the advance to sleep. A. Y. M. C. A. van came along the road and one of the men in it called out to ask whether an indoor baseball could be used there. With one voice the artillerymen answerd “yes.” The “Y” man threw out a new ball and one of the soldiers caught It - ,“** “First hitter!” he yelled. “Second hitter,” yelled another. “Pitcher,” shrieked a third. And so on until all the desirable places were claimed. A pick-handle answered for a bat In a minute the game was in progress. The batter stood between two guns and the fielders were spread out in front, so that they got the full force of the terrible blast when the pieces were fired. They paid no more attention to the ear-splitting crack of the guns than to the buzzing of the flies around the mess tent. War was forgotten and they were just American boys at play, instead of men engaged in the business of slaying. An officer saw the game and smiled. He knew that the morale of that battery would go far over par as a result of the play. It yras just the'thing that they needed, but he feared that some, of the men in the field might suffer harm from having the guns fired right over their heads, and ordered the, scene of action shifted across the road where everyone would be behind the long rifles. This incident is typical of what sport Is doing to keep up the morale of the American army in the combat zone. The Y. IL C. A. has wisely concluded that here the work of the physical department is more important than in the more remote areas, and is putting forth evCry effort to supply the "material.”

Physical directors are not Delng sent into actual fighting because they would be in the way there. While engaged in grappling with the Bocbe, even the most enthusiastic sportsman hasn’t any time for games. But the minute the men are able to think of playing, the Red Triangle is there to look after them. As soon as a unit Is brought back to rest after a few days of hard fighting, the “Y” begins to put on an athletic program. Officers heartily indorse the work and several unit commanders have made formal requests for physical directors in the rest billets. The results have been most gratifying. Units that have come out of the I’nes badly used up have been able to get on their feet in a few days and the men have gone back to the business of killing the Boche with renewed “pep.”